South America, Days 59 to 65 - Stage 15: Cuenca, Ecuador

We've done a bit of this in the garden hammocks. Darla likes to be involved

Day 59 Friday to day 63 Tuesday

The days have all blurred into one a bit, but that’s what we do these Housesits for, our R ‘n’ R. The dogs are a joy, poor little Darla has been renamed the Slug as she wiggles her way into the bed, she is very cute, and definitely my friend. We quite fancied sitting for a dachshund and she hasn’t disappointed. She does however have a lot to say for herself at cars, dogs and people, from behind the safety of her fence. Suki and Asia are sisters but quite different, Asia is a bit of a nervous Nelly, doesn’t like thunder or fireworks, a quick dose of CBD seems to help though and apparently since flying here she is much better than she used to be. We had one Sunday morning, when there were lots of firework bangs (why do they do that in the daylight?) when I had to hand feed her her breakfast, but apart from that she’s been very good. She loves a cuddle, but so too does Suki, who is much more likely to come and sit on you to stake her claim. All three of them sleep on the bed with us, fortunately nights are cool as I would struggle if it was hot. It wouldn’t matter how big the bed was as Darla is pressed up against me for a lot of the night, with occasional forays between us. They all go out for a wee before bed, though are obviously less keen if it’s raining. Asia however wants to go out every night at some point. She is very ladylike with it though, goes to the patio door and lets out one little bark. Not sure what will happen when I don’t hear that one little bark, hopefully we won’t find out!

Happy Christmas from Asia!

Last Friday, the 20th, was the first day with no scheduled power cuts, and so it was, till the early hours of Saturday morning when the whole country lost power between 01.00 and 01.30 for three ish hours. Someone has since been arrested for sabotage! Up until this point we had had very little rain, since then however we have had lots and lots of rain, mostly in the afternoon or overnight until today, which was obviously the day that Brian was determined to go out for a run! He went, though walked up and down the big hill (see Relive of route: click here)! Good for power generation, not so good for persuading dogs out for a wee!

We can't even sit and do the crossword without doglets wanting to be involved. She's got little Darla one side, Suki the other. Where am I going to sit? Just shove Suki up a bit , but she thinks strokes for her are more important than us doing the crossword, so a nose or paw keeps appearing

Christmas Eve we planned to go into Cuenca to look at the big parade, the Paseo del Nino or passing of the children. It sounded great, but the more we read the more 8hours, 15000 participants and 100000 spectators put us off. Getting cabs in and out, finding somewhere to stand, standing, feeling neurotic in a big crowd, not having anyone to look for or wave at. We stayed in. I’ve since read about 2 pickpocketing incidents and it started pouring with rain at about the time we, and therefore everyone else, would have wanted to leave!

And it is amazing how three dogs can use all available seating!

We have however been busy, we’ve done our homework. We’ve booked a trip to the Galápagos, to fit neatly between the Housesit and the cruise. It’s costing nearly as much as the three week cruise, but it had to be done! Happy Christmas to us. We’ve also spent a long time looking at shore excursions for the cruise which can really bump the price up. We think we’ve finally got it all sorted though, along with a week in Buenos Aires at the end of the cruise in a place run by an Argentine Tango teacher who includes group lessons in the room costs! This takes us up to something like the 4th March. We are never this organised!

Christmas lunch. There was plenty left over, so we had the same again on Boxing day

I’ve used all the various kitchen gadgets. There is only an inbuilt hob, but in addition to this there’s a countertop oven, which is on top of the fridge/freezer, fortunately there is also a little step stool! There is an air fryer for sausages and roast potatoes and an instant pot, which is a modern day pressure cooker. It has a chilli setting on it, so I made chilli! It’s great being able to cook, to potter up and down the hill buying bits and pieces as the mood takes. To be able to batch cook and have leftovers, simple things.

We’ve also found the icecream shop which does a lovely milkshake, it’s good to have a treat!

The challenge for Jackie was that little oven on top of the fridge freezer what what she cooked Christmas dinner in. The little foot stool came in handy to get her to the right height

Day 64 Wednesday Christmas Day

We went traditional, a nice breakfast, avocado on toast with a poached egg (ok, not that traditional, but we couldn’t find a sensible sized/priced pack of smoked salmon) accompanied by fizz. Boiled up the giblets of the chicken for the gravy (though I did draw the line at the feet and the head that was still attached to the neck!) and made bread sauce. I’d kept a couple of sausages back when we had sausage and mash, so although a little large for a pig in blanket, that will do, not to mention that the bacon didn’t really resemble bacon, but it was close. Accompany all this with a selection of roasted vegetables - potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrot, onion and garlic and some cabbage just in case there wasn’t enough and a very satisfying Christmas lunch was had. Pudding not quite so traditional, but cake with icecream and a baileys equivalent poured over seemed to do the job well. Morecambe and Wise on YouTube, King Charles’s speech, Die Hard and Love Actually. We could have been anywhere!

Isn't this what Christmas is all about? However, since they've both been dead for 30 odd years they are now quite dated

The dogs had been calm, we expected fireworks but there actually weren’t many which was fab. They did start woofing at one point, but that was because the lady from next door, down the hill, who we know nothing about, brought us a plated up dinner, chicken, rice, macaroni cheese, and something unidentifiable, which sort of reminded me of migas, Spanish breadcrumbs, which we’ve had in northern Spain. It seemed to have breadcrumbs, onion, beans and chorizo in,and was really very nice. But how sweet of her to bring us a plate, we really were very touched. Just got to work out how to get the plate back to her now, work out what to say in Spanish, and whether we can take her something !

Lunch bought by our neighbours, who speak no English, so conversation was difficult. Very nice of them though, we ate it for lunch on Boxing Day, very nice

Days 64 and 65 Friday

It’s rained pretty much for a day, but we are in and comfy, the dogs (don’t know which one’s) are snoring, and I’m boiling up the chicken carcass for soup. Brian has been for his run, so we are blogging and feeling very comfortable. We’ve just had a message from Cheryl that there is a red warning for the level of the Tomebamba River that flows through Cuenca and passed us on the other side of the highway. The rain seems to be easing up so we might have to go and have a look! Talk about one extreme of water to another though!

 

Our nearest cafe serving excellent milkshakes and ice cream. Its a 20 minute walk each way with a big hill on the way back so we reckon we burn off all the calories on the walk!

Sometimes Suki doesn't think she gets enough attention!

After the heavy rain yesterday afternoon and all night we went to look at the Tomebamba river nearby. It's quite full!

Happy Jackie found a small cat on the way back that was keen for tickles

We've done a bit of this as well, GnT's with crisps in the garden, with doglets as well, of course